


Man Sitting On A Little Stool

by monkiainen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Childhood, Gen, The Burrow (Harry Potter), Underage Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 02:04:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13331181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monkiainen/pseuds/monkiainen
Summary: Little Bill finds a hurt toad from The Burrow.





	Man Sitting On A Little Stool

**Author's Note:**

> For the Saturday Special at hh_sugarquill

Bill remembers a time when he was just 6 years old. It was the summer their mother was heavily pregnant with Percy, and Bill had to keep an eye to the 4-year-old Charlie because mom couldn't run after him. It was a nice, warm summer, one of the best summers Bill remembers from his childhood. Despite the fact that the First Wizarding War was going around them, Bill doesn't remember his parents being overly protective of the kids. Or maybe they were just good at masking their worries, and showing a brave face to the boys, who knows. What Bill remembers is that he and Charlie were free to roam around The Burrow, doing what little boys do the best: exploring, running, playing.

The garden was their favourite place to be, as there were trees to climb and grass to be hidden in. Bill's favourite part of the garden was the pond, filled with many interesting things. It was often that Bill would dip himself to the cool pond, as it was not very deep. One of those times Bill made a discovery: a three-legged toad was sitting at the edge of the pond, looking quite sad.

Bill cradled the toad gently to his hands, taking a closer look. Where there was supposed to be a left hind leg, was just a little stump, bloodied from the edges. Whatever had happened to the toad for it lose its leg, it had happened quite recently. With the utmost trust only a small child will have to their parents, Bill took the toad with him and started looking for his father. Dad was so smart, he would know what to do with the hurt toad. Dad knew all the things and more, Bill was sure about that.

But dad wasn't home yet from his very important job at the Ministry. Bill bit his lip, worried. But what if the toad would be too hurt by the time dad would be home? Maybe mom could help instead? But then Bill remembered how tired mom had looked that morning, her feet swollen and generally not feeling good. Mom needed to rest because she was having a baby, and mom needed to be strong for that. So Bill didn't want to bother mom because while mom wasn't going to be angry she was going to be tired and Bill didn't want that.

That left only one thing to do. Only… Bill knew he wasn't supposed to do it, because mom and dad had said so, but if he didn't do anything the toad would die. And mom and dad had also said that it was Very Important to be nice to all the people (even if they weren't nice) and to the animals, and help anyone who looked like they needed help. And Bill wanted to be nice to the hurt toad, and it really needed his help, and Bill didn't want it to hurt. With those things in mind, Bill sneaked inside the Burrow, looking for his mother's wand.

There it was. For a moment Bill hesitated, because he was not allowed to touch a wand belonging to any adult, let alone use it. But the toad needed him, so with a slight hesitance Bill picked up the wand, trying to remember the spell mom had used on him when he had split his lip quite badly after falling from a tree. Okay. Bill thought he had it, and with a trembling hand he lifted his mother's wand, pointing it to the poor toad and whispering: _"Episkeewyi"._

The poor toad vanished, leaving nothing but specks of blood in Bill's hand. Crushed, Bill dropped the wand to the floor, running back outside. He only wanted to help the toad! And now he had ruined it! Why he had to be stupid! If only he had waited for dad to come home… maybe the toad would still be alive. From this day one Bill told himself to think before acting, because sometimes it was wiser to do so.


End file.
